Our First Year in Review

As 2018 draws to a close we look back in gratitude for all the magic we found in nature.

We followed a pair of swans as they raised their first brood together, watched herring gulls dive for fish, were greeted by friendly mallards on our walks by the river. We saw squirrels and seals. We met oystercatchers, curlew, redshank, goosander, turnstones, wigeon and pigeons, sometimes as curious about us as we were about them.

We enjoyed the magic of macro, looking closely at blossoms, flowers, at ripening fruit. Raindrops captured the light and a reflection of our world. Ice crystals shimmered on the edge of an evergreen.

We saw clouds wandering across a pond, the first leaves of Spring, a mountain inside a stone by the river. The snow fields were slow to leave the higher ground, even when the water lilies were blooming. Our Autumn was glorious and the mist over the Kyle on Solstice day guided us into Winter.

A very big thank you to all our followers and fellow bloggers for their kind comments and support since we started this blog.

We really appreciate those fellow bloggers who host challenges too. A special thank you to Cee Neuner for hosting her Flower of the Day, Frank Jansen for his wonderful prompts at Dutch Goes the Photo, Patti, Amy, Tina and Ann-Christine for hosting the Lens-Artists Weekly Photo Challenge, the team at the Rag Tag Daily Prompt for their Daily Writing and Photo Prompts, the team at dVerse for their poetry prompts, Frank J Tassone for his Weekly Haikai Challenge and last and certainly not least, Kristjaan Panneman at Carpe Diem Haiku Kai for hosting the haiku prompts and retreats that we have supported throughout the year.

Thank you again for all the love. We wish you and your loved ones a blessed and very happy New Year.

The annual review on our sister blog Whippet Wisdom can be found here.

Thank you for sharing your year in review, Xenia, and the inspiration you’ve provided to me. Your photos are proof that whatever happens in the future, in the moment, we can still find the calm at the centre of it all.

Thank you so much for your kind words dear Tracy, for sharing your beautiful photographs and inspiring stories and for your part in hosting the lovely Rag Tag Community too 💜 Nature can bring us so many blessings 🌻🐦 When we capture some of this in an image or in words we can revisit these blessings over and over again. A very happy New Year to you and your loved ones from all of us here and a big pat for Ama and Makea too 🤗💖🐕 xxx